Kamakura with the fam...

We have been in Japan for almost six months now. We actually did some site-seeing. We rode the train to Kamakura. Kamakura has many historically significant Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. It was a beautiful Saturday so of course there were a lot of people.

To prep the boys for our outing we gave them all plenty of warning and armed them with cameras so they could capture the day. The plan worked well. Not much complaining. We had a great day. Lots of walking but fun to see what the boys thought was picture worthy. Most of these photos are from Nathan's turn.

A torii 鳥居 ^{is a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entry to a Shinto shrine, although it can be found at Buddhist temples as well. Torii mark the transition from the sacred (the shrine) to the profane (the normal world)}

^{Samurai Swords and other weapons}

^{Traditional Japanese Umbrella}

^{Cool big brother?!}

At the entrance to the Shrine there is a place to wash your hands.

The trees are beginning to bloom.

Goofy mom.

Prayers that people post.

Interesting hat... Maybe we should get one for Ryan. He always wanted to be Daniel Boone when he was little. . .

We were laughing at all the people and their dogs. These two were "twins" and the owners were taking a bunch of pictures.

Barrels of sake donated to the shrine by local businesses.

We thought that this was the funniest thing. The menu showed various "Amish" style foods. Not exactly the place we expected to see this.



Now these poor dogs had to have been humiliated wearing their strawberry print dresses. It's one thing on a little tiny dog but these two?!?!

The other cool brother. . .

All along the path there were these little booths selling various fruits in candied form. This one sold strawberries on a ritz cracker dipped in some sugar coating. Some of the others that Spence and I tried were HUGE grapes on a stick then dipped in hot sugar so that it made a sucker around it. Strange but good.

Donation and prayer bucket in front.

I have been wanting to post a picture of these vending machines. They are all over Japan. Walk a few steps and you will find another one. They have various hot and cold drinks in them.